


Embracesmadly, Or, How A Forgotten Beast Found A New Home

by draconicsockpuppet



Category: Dwarf Fortress
Genre: Bad Ideas, Creepy Fluff, Cuddle Pollen, F/F, Tentacles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:54:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24299944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/draconicsockpuppet/pseuds/draconicsockpuppet
Summary: There are many ways to deal with a forgotten beast in the caverns. Cave-ins, webbed traps, hammers or spears or crossbows......Or you could feed it and hug it and call it Urist.
Relationships: Dwarven Animal Lover & Forgotten Beast, Dwarven Animal Lover/Her Very Patient Wife
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14
Collections: Fluffy as a Cloud Flash Exchange





	Embracesmadly, Or, How A Forgotten Beast Found A New Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Laplace_Aura](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laplace_Aura/gifts).



"Damn."

Lim Stranglefar let the bat out of the trap and reset it. Whiskeychapel's supply of purring maggots was running low, and so was the dwarven milk the Queen demanded with every meal. Without it she'd go mad and throw herself into the lava pits, and then who knows what sort of terrible monarch they'd get next? No, better to keep the Queen who wanted endless copper bins rather than risk a ruler with more… niche preferences for their mandates.

The next trap along her route was empty, and the traps after that filled by a succession of spiders and frogs and cave swallows, with not a single purring maggot to be found. Lim reset them all, one by one. And while doing so, she failed to notice the sleek, rubbery tentacle which crept up out of the lake, snaked around her ankle, and began to tug.

Lim turned as she tried to pull her leg away from the – whatever it was. And then she saw it, its massive finned head cresting up out of the water.

Oh. Oh, no.

* * *

**Embracesmadly was a forgotten beast. It was the only one of its kind. An enormous eyeless sauropod. It has a gaunt body. Its tentacles undulate rhythmically. Beware its noxious secretions! Embracesmadly was associated with water, depravity, and caverns.**

* * *

Lim swallowed hard and clenched her fists. She was no warrior, but she'd make this creature pay for her impending death.

And then the forgotten beast shook itself, and a cloud of glowing purple dust spread from its body.

Lim held her breath. The beast shook again. And then – and then she had to breathe, and there was nothing to breathe but the dust.

Oh. That felt… nice, actually.

Lim hugged the tentacle that had begun to curl around her chest. No one had ever warned her that forgotten beasts liked to _cuddle._

The beast bent its massive head and began to devour a young tower-cap. Its teeth were the same thick, blunt shape as a cow's. It shook again, creating another cloud of dust. Lim was coated with the stuff, gritty yet somehow comforting.

Lim patted the tentacle holding her leg; it relaxed, and she stood. And then she stepped forward and hugged one of the creature's massive legs.

The forgotten beast made a low groaning sound that echoed through the caverns.

"I have to go," Lim told it as she tried to brush off the dust, "but I'll bring you some nether-cap when I return. Or do you like spore trees better?"

The beast groaned again.

"I'll bring both," Lim promised.

* * *

"You _what_ ," Fikod Towerwhirl said.

"Look, it seemed harmless," Lim said. "Wouldn't it be nice to have a forgotten beast on our side when the goblins come back?"

"Why are you like this."

"You knew what I was like when you married me," Lim told her.

Fikod looked at the neat stacks of cages in their bedroom, and all of the tiny creatures inside with names and little bowls of their favorite foods, prepared fresh that morning, and gave a deep sigh. "You have a point."

"Yes!" Lim tapped her chin. "I still didn't find any purring maggots, though."

"Maybe they went the way of the pond turtles," Fikod said. "…Do you think your forgotten beast can be milked?"

"We won't know until we try!"

Fikod stared at her, and then gave another, deeper sigh. "I'll go get my hammer. Just in case."

Lim hugged her. "Okay!"

Fikod coughed, then coughed again. "What is that stuff all over you, anyway? I didn't think it was spore tree season yet."

"Um." Lim smiled sheepishly and held out her hand, still covered with a fine coating of forgotten beast dust.

Fikod took it.

Somehow, they ended up cuddling in bed for a few hours instead of going to deal with the forgotten beast. Lim didn't think it would mind.

* * *

Fikod did insist on wearing her armor when she helped Lim carry logs down to the caverns: full steel plate, with a few extra sets of chain mail on top and her silver hammer and fungiwood shield. Lim felt underdressed. But the forgotten beast was still placidly eating tower-caps in the caverns, a trail of broken stumps behind it.

"You want to tame _that_?" Fikod said.

Lim grinned. "It's really cuddly. You'll like it!"

Fikod gave her a dirty look.

"You liked Thalal!" (Thalal was Lim's oldest cave spider.)

Fikod set the nether-cap log on the ground and put her hands on her hips. "Thalal isn't big enough to kill us."

"Um." Lim had lived through cave spider bites before, and she'd certainly _wished_ she was dead during the worst of it. "Sure. Whatever you say." She hurried off and set the spore tree log in her arms a few blocks away from the beast.

A rubbery tentacle sneaked toward her and curled around her leg.

Lim patted at it, then pried it free and put it on the log. "Here, I brought you a treat." The tentacle undulated along the log, feeling it out, and then the beast bent its enormous head and picked up one end in its mouth, each of its teeth the size of Lim's head.

"It's not trying to kill us," Fikod whispered as she dumped her own log down next to Lim.

"Nope!" Lim patted the tentacle, and it curled around her chest.

The forgotten beast shook off a cloud of dust.

"Oh!" Fikod began coughing again, and when she stopped gasping for breath, she said, "So that's where that came from."

"It seems pretty harmless," Lim said.

"It's terrifying," Fikod said, and she wrapped her armored arm around Lim's waist. "But as forgotten beasts go, it's acceptable."

Lim grinned and pulled Fikod down into the spore grass for more cuddles.

* * *

When the dwarven milk finally ran out, every dwarf in Whiskeychapel waited for a tantrum that never came; that is, every dwarf but two.

The Queen liked cuddle pollen even more than purring maggot milk.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Demitas for beta reading.


End file.
